Rebecca P on thu 31 oct 02
Dear friends,
I have been following this thread from the beginning and reading all the
posts of support and all the others. I am happy to see Ms. Beecher's story
in her own words which ring with honesty. I think some of us have drifted
away from the basic issues here. They are not whether the smoke will smell
up the neighbor's house, or whether the kiln is too close to the neighbor's
property or how often Ms Beecher will fire the kiln, or whether she is
firing it properly, or whether she lives in a rural area or not, etc.
The basic issues here are that Ms, Beecher went through channels. She
obtained the required permits, passed the required inspections and her kiln
was approved by a representative of the town. It seems to me that Ms.
Beecher is being punished for the supposed error of that representative and
therefore the error of the town.
Furthermore, she has bent over backwards offering to make changes which
would mitigate the perceived problems if not correct them - even though the
error was not hers. Then we have a neighbor who refuses to even discuss the
matter with her preferring to go through his lawyer. This smacks of
unfriendliness, uneighborliness, unwillingness to compromise a need to
control and to have his own way no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, Ms
Beecher must bear the cost and, like most of us in this profession, this is
a hardship for her.
This being the case, I would think that all of us, whether or not we have
the kinship with her of being potters, would be willing to help her in any
way we can. It is the American way - to be here for each other, which very
often means to help the "underdog" (forgive me Ms Beecher, for the way that
sounds).
I am not ashamed to say that I cannot help Ms Beecher financially.
Disability is not a high paying job. But, I am writing this in the hope that
I can help some of you to look at this situation in a different light and
that maybe you can help financially. I also believe that we all possess the
power to make good things happen. Some of us do it by prayer some of send
positive vibes out into the universe in other ways - by meditation, by
walking in the woods, by the sea, whatever works for each of us. If we all
do that with Ms. Beecher in mind and pass the word to others asking them for
assistance, then I believe right and good will come of this.
Thanks for listening.
Rebecca Pierre
Oak Island, NC - where I walked in the surf at sunset toward a sun that sank
into the aqua green sea turning it and the lower sky molten. When I reached
my turning around point, I wanted to keep walking west, and west, and west.
>From: Jean Lehman
>Reply-To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
>To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>Subject: Re: wood kilns and rural places; from Ms Beecher
>Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2002 15:06:41 -0500
>
>I have known Susan Beecher for a long time. She is a caring,
>considerate, NICE person who would never be rude to neighbors! I had
>been forwarding her copies of posts that pertained to her situation,
>but when they began to be negative I worried about that effect on
>her. She sent me the following response that I will gladly share with
>our ClayArt family.
>
>
>
>At 11:26 AM -0500 10/31/02, Susan Beecher wrote:
>>Jean...Yes, thank you for sending me everything - it is good, if painful,
>>to
>>see it all....Just to set the record straight - my area is totally
>>rural....
>>it used to be dairy farms...now it is mostly vacant land...it is actually
>>inside Catskill State Forest....but there has been Zoning since 1991....I
>>started my Pottery there in 1986 with a gas kiln....I am zoned as Rural
>>Residential which means I am allowed to have a Home Occupation...
>>my neighbors saw my kiln being built, I spoke with them and they had no
>>problem with it....I went to my Town and told them exactly what I wanted
>>to
>>do and everyone said GREAT - and I got a building permit.....then on the
>>second firing there was a horrible wind storm which caused a lot of
>>smoke...
>>my neighbor (Middleton) never complained or spoke to me at all....he went
>>directly to the Town Board with a Letter from his lawyer...and his nephew
>>sits on the Town Board.....My Building Permit was withdrawn (after I spent
>>$30,000) and I was issued a Stop Work Order one year ago - meaning that I
>>cannot fire my kiln....I was not given a chance to even appear before the
>>Town Board with a Lawyer.... However, I immediately made every concession
>>that I could think of including only firing 6 times a year and at agreed
>>upon times & dates, also that I would enclose the kiln in a barn-like
>>structure (in keeping with the rural flavor of the area) and planting 14
>>more trees between my neighbor and myself - there are actually 10 thirty
>>foot pines between my kiln and his property that I planted 10 years
>>ago...For the last seven months I have appeared before monthly meetings of
>>the Zoning Board which finally approved my kiln and "home occupation"...
>>Now I must appear before the Planning Board (probably this will take
>>another
>>three months at least....and they are obsessed with the possibility of
>>polution from the kiln....and most people burn wood stoves all
>>winter...people make maple syrup over wood stoves...there is open burning
>>allowed in my town.....so that is the story...please put this on Clay Art
>>and thank you, Susan Beecher
>
>
>
>I hope this clarifies her situation. She certainly appears to be the
>victim here.
>
>Jean
>
>
>
>
>--
>-------------------->
>Jean Lehman,
>jlehman73@earthlink.net
>
>in Lancaster, PA
>http://www.art-craftpa.com/sfpn1.html
>Check in to see The 10th annual (2002)
>Strictly Functional Pottery National exhibition, which was juried by Jack
>Troy.
>The 2003 SFPN will be juried by Wayne Higby. Application is (or will soon
>be)
>on the web site, and may be downloaded.
>
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>
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Jean Lehman on thu 31 oct 02
I have known Susan Beecher for a long time. She is a caring,
considerate, NICE person who would never be rude to neighbors! I had
been forwarding her copies of posts that pertained to her situation,
but when they began to be negative I worried about that effect on
her. She sent me the following response that I will gladly share with
our ClayArt family.
At 11:26 AM -0500 10/31/02, Susan Beecher wrote:
>Jean...Yes, thank you for sending me everything - it is good, if painful, to
>see it all....Just to set the record straight - my area is totally rural....
>it used to be dairy farms...now it is mostly vacant land...it is actually
>inside Catskill State Forest....but there has been Zoning since 1991....I
>started my Pottery there in 1986 with a gas kiln....I am zoned as Rural
>Residential which means I am allowed to have a Home Occupation...
>my neighbors saw my kiln being built, I spoke with them and they had no
>problem with it....I went to my Town and told them exactly what I wanted to
>do and everyone said GREAT - and I got a building permit.....then on the
>second firing there was a horrible wind storm which caused a lot of smoke...
>my neighbor (Middleton) never complained or spoke to me at all....he went
>directly to the Town Board with a Letter from his lawyer...and his nephew
>sits on the Town Board.....My Building Permit was withdrawn (after I spent
>$30,000) and I was issued a Stop Work Order one year ago - meaning that I
>cannot fire my kiln....I was not given a chance to even appear before the
>Town Board with a Lawyer.... However, I immediately made every concession
>that I could think of including only firing 6 times a year and at agreed
>upon times & dates, also that I would enclose the kiln in a barn-like
>structure (in keeping with the rural flavor of the area) and planting 14
>more trees between my neighbor and myself - there are actually 10 thirty
>foot pines between my kiln and his property that I planted 10 years
>ago...For the last seven months I have appeared before monthly meetings of
>the Zoning Board which finally approved my kiln and "home occupation"...
>Now I must appear before the Planning Board (probably this will take another
>three months at least....and they are obsessed with the possibility of
>polution from the kiln....and most people burn wood stoves all
>winter...people make maple syrup over wood stoves...there is open burning
>allowed in my town.....so that is the story...please put this on Clay Art
>and thank you, Susan Beecher
I hope this clarifies her situation. She certainly appears to be the
victim here.
Jean
--
-------------------->
Jean Lehman,
jlehman73@earthlink.net
in Lancaster, PA
http://www.art-craftpa.com/sfpn1.html
Check in to see The 10th annual (2002)
Strictly Functional Pottery National exhibition, which was juried by Jack Troy.
The 2003 SFPN will be juried by Wayne Higby. Application is (or will soon be)
on the web site, and may be downloaded.
John Baymore on sat 2 nov 02
Jean Lehman,
I have known Susan Beecher for a long time. She is a caring,
considerate, NICE person who would never be rude to neighbors! I had
been forwarding her copies of posts that pertained to her situation,
but when they began to be negative I worried about that effect on
her. She sent me the following response that I will gladly share with
our ClayArt family.
THANK you very much for forwarding the message from Susan to CLAYART and
your supportive comments. I have been sending here copies of my emails
too.
I too have been worried about the sort of negative stuff appearing here
from other potters affecting her "spirit" a bit. She's already got a
passel of problems just dealing with Middleton and his lawyer. I also
worry that the more negative stuff will eventually be found by Middleton'=
s
lawyer...... and used as "evidence" that this kiln is not even fully
supported by other potters. Any lawyer worth his or her degree likely is=
doing web searches on words like "wood kiln", "Beecher", "pottery", and s=
o
on. Hopefully....... he's an older person not readily attuned to activel=
y
using the web and hasn't thought of it .
Best,
..............................john
John Baymore
River Bend Pottery
22 Riverbend Way
Wilton, NH 03086 USA
603-654-2752 (s)
800-900-1110 (s)
JohnBaymore.com
JBaymore@compuserve.com
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